The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett

Ekaterina Avenko is the middle child of the Avenko family. She was born royalty but has no intention to rule and was planning to run off when her brother is crowned duke. Yet a mysterious plague suddenly falls onto the Avenko family, sending all 12 of her siblings and her Mother and Father into sickness, but for some reason, Ekata is spared. With no one ruling, Ekata is forced to be the duke, if she wants Kylma Above to thrive. Now, it is up to her to find the cure, rule and protect Kylma Above, a kingdom made of ice placed over a frozen lake, threatening to shatter and send Kylma Above falling into the abyss at every wrong move. It doesn’t help that there are outside forces trying to take over, now that a sixteen-year old girl is ruling. But most importantly, Ekata must find a way to stay alive while she’s in the midst of magic, politics- and power.

Some nice aspects of the book were its characters. They all seemed so mysterious and there were a lot of layers to them. For example, it might seem like one of the characters might be good at first, but as you read on, you realize that he's a lot darker. I especially liked reading about how Ekata felt about the whole predicament and the lesbian representation within the main characters, yet it doesn't feel like the whole story is based around it. The author describes the scenes and places to the finest detail, yet still makes it not boring.

If you like political fantasies, I think you will enjoy this book. But if you also like lore-filled books and mysteries all around, you will certainly like it too. I would recommend it to an older generation, like middle school and up. 

Review by Natalie Z.

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

 

A girl named Lily and her family and her grandmother. Lily loves the stories that her grandmother told her when she was young and now, but she realizes the hard truth, her grandmother stole a stories and trap them in a bottle, but those stories are too bad to let them go out side of the bottle. And there's a tiger who trying to take the stories from her. When the tiger deals with you, Can Lily make a right decision with the tiger?

My favorite part of this book actually this is a part of sentence... : "I'm on a kimchi diet" said the tiger. I really liked this part because a magical tiger is on a diet. I really liked this part.

"If you like fiction tale books or are interested about Korean tales you will love this book!" And if you read about [The science of breakable things by Tae Keller] and enjoyed that you'll probably like this book.

Review by Judy (Yuna) C.

Beetle and the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne

 

Beetle is a goblin-witch who’s homeschooled my her grandmother, and learns magic from her. But she doesn’t have a crystal for sorcery, and doesn’t know how to ride a broom properly, and can’t make potions well, and so far, learning magic has just been a pain. At least she has her best friend, Blob Ghost (or BG), a ghost that haunts her local mall. Unfortunately, BG can’t ever leave the mall, and they don’t know how to get out.
As if that wasn’t enough to deal with, Beetle’s old best friend, Kat, is coming to her town for a sorcery apprenticeship from her aunt, Marla Hollowbone. Kat never stands up to her aunt, even when she’s belittling and uncaring, because she knows more than Kat does. As if that wasn’t enough, her aunt plans to tear down the mall that BG is living in. If they don’t get out in time, they might come to an unfortunate end.
Will Beetle find out a way to save BG, master magic, and convince Kat to stand up for herself? Or will everything come crashing down?

I loved this book!!!! The colors were definitely my favorite part of the book- there’s lots of warm and intense oranges and reds, and the contrast of the calm blues and blacks really tie the illustrations together. When it comes to plot, my favorite character is Katerina, also known as Kat. She’s a very level headed, calm, and cool character, but not boring in any way. Even though she’s a very good witch, she doesn’t brag about it often, and is usually modest.
I will say, I couldn't really connect or relate to this story since everything was so unique and strange, while the real world is more plain. But that strangeness and uniqueness is what made it so interesting!

I would recommend this book this book to anyone who loves fantasy, warm, bright colors, and nicely designed, unique characters.

Review by Mia O.

Greenglass House by Kate Milford

 

It’s nearly winter break and Milo Pine is just about ready for vacation when the doorbell to his parent’s hotel rings. There is a guest. More and more guests come to the hotel which is Milo’s home. Usually no guests stay at the hotel in this time of winter and everyone’s sudden arrival bothers Milo. As the guests come piling in, 2 arguing people- one man and 1 woman, a blue haired girl, a gusty red haired girl, and one grumpy secretive man, lots of secrets also come in. Milo and the hotel’s chief’s daughter, Meddy, go investigating the old house’s secrets, finding out the real reason all the mysterious guests came to the hotel after all. Greenglass House is a cozy mystery story for any person who’s up for a good read.

I really liked the fact that this book had such an interesting story for each and every guest that we met in the Greenglass House. The house itself had so much history, and learning about it more each chapter was really fun. The book only took place over a few days but it felt like so much longer because of all the details. It was really fun looking for the small details, trying to beat Milo to solve the mystery, and following all the characters’ stories. I think this book was really unlike a lot of other mystery books because it didn’t make you scared, and it wasn’t action packed, but it had such a warm vibe to it that made you happy. The Pine’s family was so nice to everyone that made me as a reader feel loved. Milo, the main character, was really relatable as just a normal kid, who went to school and had homework (even though the book takes place during winter break).

If you want a cozy mystery and are ready for the winter season, this is the book for you! I didn’t pick this book up immediately because it was pretty slow starting but if you like slow easy going reading, I would recommend this book to you. I would give this book a 4/5 because it was a really nice book, but just not my style of reading, but if you think you would like a cozy lighthearted mystery, this is your book. This is a good book for sitting down for a few hours and just being able to read. If you are interested in any of these characteristics, try checking out Greenglass House!

Review by Izzy C.

Gay-Neck The Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji

This book takes place in India where many children wish to have a pet pigeon. The main characters, a boy and his pet pigeon, go on a journey around a jungle. They soon get separated because of an eagle family “Gay-Neck flees from the eagle”.
While separated they both experience many journeys while the boy must travel with his 2 companions in search of his pigeon, the pigeon must face many dangers such as other animals “Gay-Neck flies in an circular motion in attempt to confuse the hawk”.
After many weeks of searching the boy finally reunites with Gay-Neck but soon Gay-Neck must go to war as a messenger pigeon. There Gay-Neck will face many danger. What could happen?
 I enjoyed reading this book because it had many adventures and it was very interesting. There was one adventure that was about the boy and his companions. They had to climb a tree to flee from a tiger “If I had climbed 2 minutes late that striped fellow would have eaten me”. My favorite character was the pigeon because he was very brave and talented. I did not really connect with the story because I have not really faced any incredibly dangerous situations or traveled a lot.

I would recommend this book to people who like adventures and people 11 or older. Since the book is hard to understand.

Review by Deborah S.

EarthSea by Ursula K. LeGuin

Earth Sea Is About A Young Priestess Tenar and a powerful Wizzard ged. They help each other sometimes but not always. They embrace each other and the simple pleasures of a ordinary life.

I do indeed like the books and I would want to read it again. I think the characters are good and the plot is good.

I would recommend this book if you like evilness the land and the sea! 

Review by Jenson P.
 

Whatever After by Sarah Mlynowski

Abby was baking for her 5th grade bake sale. But her little bother Jonah wanted to play so Abby told him to play in the basement forgetting there was a magic mirror. Then she heard a loud thunk! She saw Jonah broke the magic mirror later at midnight hoping, 1) to go inside a fairy and 2) making this story just right.  

I like the book because it is very plot twisting. You never know what can happen. For example in this story they land in Goldilocks and the 3 bears but Rumpelstiltskin is also included.

I recommend this book if you like suspense or plot twists.   

Review by Shahana B.